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Advice on Trident Aircraft for pre-buy


Eduleo

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Dear Mooney community,

I am in the process of purchasing my first aircraft, and one of the options for a pre-buy inspection is in Easton, MD. I see that it is an airport often flown by members of this forum, but I don’t see anything about Trident Aircraft.

Has any of you worked with them before? Any information you could share would be greatly appreciated.

This is my first post here, but I hope it is the first out of many. It is an invaluable resource for those of us who are rookie owners.

Best

Eduardo

Edited by Eduleo
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I don't know anything about Trident. But I do know that I'd rather a pre-buy be done by a shop that specializes in Mooneys. They'll know what to look for that might be unique to Mooneys. In that part of the country, Air-Mods in Robbinsville, NJ is a well known Mooney shop.

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As the purchaser, the PPI is you’re expense.

Select a good Mooney shop/ mechanic.

It / he should be independent of previous owner’s annuals.

There are two MSCs sort of close... NJ and eastern PA...

What Mooney are you buying?

Standby for some MSers in the MD area to answer...

Best regards,

-a-

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On 9/7/2018 at 12:54 PM, carusoam said:

There are two MSCs sort of close... NJ and eastern PA...

Really?  Who is the MSC in NJ?

I have called mooney and have been on their site a lot. Don’t see one. 

A great shop familiar with Mooney’s in NJ is C&W at Caldwell. Very reputable and busy. They know their stuff. Avionics colocated as well  

 

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3 minutes ago, carusoam said:

Jim, did you get any satisfaction regarding your situation and discussions with Mooney?

Best regards,

-a-

Got no where other than me spending over 1000 dollars to fix a problem that a so called MSC caused.  I did get a lawyer involved for a consultation but quickly realized that even though he said I was in the right it was going to cost me more then 1000 dollars just to get him going and it was still a gamble being that courts rarely side with people vs corporate America.  

After I told Mooney service in Texas what happened they called the shop and found out what they did, told me they were wrong, offered to find me parts free of charge and then poof, never heard from them again....Mooney was no help other than to verify who is and who is not a MSC.  Mooney did not want to get in the middle of a fight especially with a shop that does work on a lot of Mooneys. They rather lose me than them....never heard from them again even though they said they were going to get me parts free of charge and took all my information down.

So what did I do?  I sourced the parts on my own and took it to a great Mooney shop in northern NJ and paid the money out of my own pocket and got the job done and moved on.  I now know who NOT to go to..

Some free advice,  if the shop you bring your plane to is a total mess and disorganized, guys smoking as they work on your plane etc, stay away.  What you are seeing is actually what is going on in the manager and mechanics mind.  Do you want that chaos in their mindset to come near your plane?  Are their exceptions to this?  No absolutely not.

sorry for the long story...

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Quick update:

I ended up buying the plane for a fair price (at least I hope so), after the pre--buy at Henry Weber (Lancaster, PA). Converted the per-buy into a two-months-early annual that took longer because of a crack in the Power Flow exhaust that went down to Florida for repairs and ended up being replace for a new one. it should be ready sometime this week.

Otherwise the plane looks nice, no corrosion, engine looks good with clean oil analysis, no fuel leaks, new pucks and tires. I'll finally be starting my transition training by Friday, and I can't wait!

About Henry Weber, I couldn't be happier. They have been very thorough, not minding my biweekly visits to the plane (feels like visiting your child at the hospital), and my endless questions. They seem to be reasonable expense-wise, and I'd be happy bringing the plane back there for future annuals. 

Ownership remains daunting, but there also seems to be a real community that is rare to see outside of aviation.

Hope I am as positive a few months from now...

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3 hours ago, Eduleo said:

Quick update:

after the pre--buy at Henry Weber (Lancaster, PA).

Hope I am as positive a few months from now...

I have only heard great things about that shop.  Even after having to spend many thousands on my plane to get it up to my safety standards I am even happier 4 years later.....

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Eduardo, I'm curious about the cracked PFS. How old was the system? Did Weber think that the slip joints had been lubed as required? Was that the probable cause of the cracking? Were you satisfied with PFS customer service? 

My PFS is over 6 years old with no issues at all.

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2 hours ago, Bob_Belville said:

Eduardo, I'm curious about the cracked PFS. How old was the system? Did Weber think that the slip joints had been lubed as required? Was that the probable cause of the cracking? Were you satisfied with PFS customer service? 

My PFS is over 6 years old with no issues at all.

Hi Bob,

The PFS was installed in 2006. The maintenance logs indicated that the system had been maintained regularly, but Weber MSC didn't think that the problem had developed recently, so someone might have missed something at some point. There was also a dent on one of the large 180º pipes that makes it look like someone had used a rubber hammer to try to get the joints to fit after lubbing. PFS said that they thought they could weld it back since the crack was only 3" long, but a new crack kept appearing as they welded so I had to get a new assembly.

PFS seems to try to help with the problem quickly and responsively. The new part does cost $1350 + shipping, it comes with a 1 year warranty.

Best

E

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